


In Between Days

by sonictrowel



Series: Long Night in the Blue House [32]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Mush, Light Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 04:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonictrowel/pseuds/sonictrowel
Summary: He read to River from his diary every night.  Because there wasn’t enough kissing and crying in his life already, apparently.  Maybe he would’ve had the decency to be a bit embarrassed about that, if she didn’t look so damn touched and happy— with her eyes glittering and her cheeks flushing and her fingers habitually trailing over the hollow of his throat through his open collar— as he recited the written evidence that he’d always bloody adored her.  So, really, he couldn’t be arsed to care about decency.





	In Between Days

 

 

So there were some advantages to non-mechanical pets, as it turned out.  Vincent had lots of opinions, and when they were not restricted to the scope of “someone should be feeding me now,” they were decently entertaining.  River and Nardole loved him, and so did the Old Girl.  The Doctor thought she had a soft spot for, well, soft things.  Maybe it was the novelty.

And, okay— he was pretty cute.  Once he was big enough, he liked to lay draped across the Doctor’s shoulders as he puttered about the house.  That was alright.

The Doctor was in the study one day when he heard River burst into hysterical laughter in the lounge.  He had a pretty good idea of what it was, but came to investigate anyway, just to get it over with.

“Sweetie, you put a _bow tie_ on him?”  She barely got the words out amidst her laughter, swiping at the corners of her eyes.

The Doctor flushed.  “He asked for it.  Kept fishing them out of the bloody drawer and yowling about it.”

“Well we know who he takes after,” River giggled.  “I think you look very dashing, Vince,” she cooed in his direction.

“Oh, sure, on _him_ you like it.”

Vincent hopped into River’s lap and stretched up to headbutt her cheek affectionately.

“Watch it, you,” the Doctor admonished as River cuddled him.  The cat purred smugly in response.

___

River finished the first draft of her novel about a year after she began work on it.  It was good— _really_ good.  Of course it was; she was brilliant.  And sure, at first the Doctor had been a bit uncomfortable with the… detail and frequency of certain events therein, but, well, she was quite skillful when it came to winning him over.  

The heroine had eventually been named Brooke and her love interest named John— because there was just no winning with River— but the plot, though a bit of a space adventure, bore little _specific_ resemblance to their lives.  Still, it was a story with a lot of heart, one that could only be written by someone who’d had very personal experience with the subjects at hand.  Like being madly and unconditionally in love, suffering heartbreak and loss, and, when they least expected it, finding a happy ending after all.  

So, yeah, it was an emotional story, especially once the chapters were all strung together.  But the Doctor definitely didn’t get choked up reading it.  That would just be ridiculous.  Even if it _did_ lead to an afternoon of very good, emotional, kissing-and-crying sort of sex— in theory, that is, obviously.  Because that would be a lot of humany nonsense.

Oh, who was he kidding.  He was a cooking, gardening, besotted sap of a house-husband with a fucking cat.  He’d gone full native.  Should have done centuries ago, really, because it suited him surprisingly well.  But it was the company that made all the difference.

 

He read to River from his diary every night.  Because there wasn’t enough kissing and crying in his life already, apparently.  Maybe he would’ve had the decency to be a bit embarrassed about that, if she didn’t look so damn touched and happy— with her eyes glittering and her cheeks flushing and her fingers habitually trailing over the hollow of his throat through his open collar— as he recited the written evidence that he’d always bloody adored her.  So, really, he couldn’t be arsed to care about decency.

He’d started his own diary after their first kiss.  He knew, then.  Really, properly, beyond-plausible-deniability knew.  He was falling for her arse over tit and had no clue what the hell to do about that, but he knew where he was going to end up, and he knew his promise to her on the day they met, and he knew he had to keep it.  So he started to record their meetings.

Even the earliest entries made it fairly obvious that he was a lovesick fool, and it sort of progressed from there.

_River turned up today during a Sontaran incident.  Note to self: never let River near Sontarans. Bloody-minded woman has no sense of self-preservation— or of preservation of myself, frankly!— when there are potatoes to insult._

_Scolded her about it later, and she told me to make her shut up.  I’d been having an... idea about that, for some time, actually._

_It was a good idea._

x

_Amy wanted me to take her back to Space Florida with Rory this time.  River showed up somehow, I think maybe she and Sexy are in cahoots.  She just went and barged into my room and there were a bunch of her swimming costumes in the wardrobe.  Do not know how they got there, except, again, cahoots.  I had to run out of there because she just started… changing._

_Everyone went swimming and ate chips at the pier.  River said she was all sandy after and then her shampoo and things all turned up in my shower on their own, too.  I thought it best to drop the Ponds home to get cleaned up._

x

_Took River out to dinner at the little place on Arkon with the jelly cube things.  I’m not sure she liked them, but she wore a very nice shiny green dress and found somewhere for us to go dancing after.  Dancing is brilliant.  She didn’t think I’d know the cha cha— hah!  Rita Hayworth taught me ages ago.  ...It is just possible that I am not as graceful as I once was.  But her laugh is really very lovely, so that’s alright._

x

_I think I am in very big trouble.  River told me she didn’t want to go back to Stormcage last night and, well, it wouldn’t be very polite of me to make her go back to prison, would it?_

_All sorts of her things were in my bedroom.  Furniture and everything.  She told me I should sleep and I told her I don’t really do that and she just laughed at me and, well, I slept quite a bit.  She’s very warm and soft_ _and kissable_ _and when she stops teasing me and looks right at me and smiles a little I sort of feel like I’ve fallen out into space and yes, I am in very big trouble._

_Always did love a spot of trouble._

___

River started contacting publishers in the galactic neighbourhood about her novel, and the Doctor was of absolutely no use to her in that area, because no one stood a chance in negotiations with River Song.  He sprawled out on the rug in the study with Vincent curled up on his chest while she made her calls.  It was actually kind of really sexy when she airily informed whatever poor sod she’d got on the line, in that flirty-but-with-very-sharp-teeth voice, that she would not be taking that percentage, actually, and if they weren’t prepared to offer her better she’d just be taking her work elsewhere.  They’d clearly all read her sample, because the conversation always took an abrupt turn in her favour after that.

 _Brooke Séis Book One_ was picked up by a publisher on Trappist 3 that agreed on a substantial upfront payment and a large cut of the proceeds, and didn’t insist on meeting her in person.  They went out for dinner with Nardole to celebrate, and the Doctor baked her favourite chocolate cinnamon cake with orange zest icing for dessert.

___

The Doctor and River had started going to the little wine bar in town every Friday night for the live music and dancing.  They usually made it home before they got carried away in the carpark again, because they rather liked the place and there weren’t exactly an abundance of options for a night out on their little patch of the snowy rock.

On their anniversary, the Doctor surprised her by getting up from the table after dinner and jumping onto the stage.  He played a set of her favourite songs on a borrowed guitar, with the band of the night acting as his backup.

They didn’t make it home before getting carried away that night.

___

They got calls from Milly every month or so, and it eased the Doctor’s mind just to hear her alive and well.  He wished he could ask what was going on, but maybe on the whole it was better the less he knew.

Something else had been on his mind since the day she left, now over a year past.  The obvious question.  When would Milly arrive, in her proper order?

On the one hand, he would be thrilled and terrified whenever it happened.

But on the other hand, oh, his dear, wonderful River.  How would she take it, when their time here was more than half gone?  She’d told him in their very first months on Darillium that she didn’t think she wanted children anymore, with her own future so uncertain.  He knew she’d be ecstatic to have Milly, but could she really go to her death leaving a child behind?  He didn’t want her to have to face that agony.

She sacrificed her life to save him, but she also knew, then, that it was the end of the line for them.  In her shoes, that would make it very easy for him to do the same, knowing there was no more River in his future, and he could secure her safety and their past by giving that lonely future up.  But if Milly was already here, the whole picture changed.  If River knew her future still held their young daughter, how could she possibly let herself die?

She had been through so much, sacrificed so much, hurt so much because of him.  Billions of years in the dial still awaited her after death, a thought that sickened him as much as the thought of the Library.  Having her be away from their child then, too, was more than he could bear to think of.

So he hoped and prayed to whatever force of the universe might be listening that Milly would be born after he’d saved River.

And if they were well into their last year on Darillium with no sign of her… he’d know.  He wouldn’t wish away a single precious second of their time here together, but when he thought of that, he _almost_ wished he could skip to the end, and know that their family, their life together, was all still to come.  To know that he’d succeed in the end and get her back.

He’d begun seeing River in his dreams on Darillium, too, and just like that— no more Bow Tie.  She told him she loved him exactly the same in any body, and it stirred his hearts so very much to know that was true.  But he was more comfortable being his current self, although, perhaps because of his long history with River, Bow Tie never seemed far below the surface.  She was the one commonality between — probably, he assumed he’d find out one day — every one of his regenerations.  Whatever tastes and personality changed between his lives, if he knew her, he loved her.  That was probably how he found his way back to himself the day he finally met her again.  He was missing that unbroken line to everyone he’d used to be, and she was it.

He begged River in his dreams to tell him when Milly would come, to tell him what to say to comfort her if it had already happened.  Spoilers, of course.  But she held him and told him it would be alright.

The Doctor’s life was a fine, timey-wimey, domestic, humany mess.  He really was so very lucky.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Love you all, dear readers, and so love your wonderful comments and hearing what you think of the story!


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